Monday, March 30, 2009

Yingge I: Gouldian Finch (胡錦鳥，七色鳥）

We were visiting Yingge (鶯歌) on Saturday, March 28. It is a village not far from Taipei. I used to ride my bicycle alone the river to reach it in about 2 hours. It is the center for ceramics in Taiwan. It has the Taipei County Yingge Ceramics Museum and a beautiful old street with many shops selling items ranging from common souveniors to collectables. At the first shop we stopped by, I went in to buy a replacemant for the cover of a ceramic pot, which was broken back home. We only had our Nikon D40 and the new Nikon 35mm G 1.8 lens, which I got on Friday, probably the first one became available in Taiwan. Grace saw this lovely bird in a cage at the shop and started photographing. The owner was kind enough to open the cage to let her to have a clear shot.

The bird is a Gouldian Finch, Erythrura gouldiae. Named by the famous British ornithological Jhon Gould in 1844 after his wife Elizabeth. Jhon Gould has been most famous for his painting of birds which was produced into colorful prints in the 19th century. These prints has been highly sought after by the collectors. We saw several of his prints in the antique shops in London many years ago, and have two 19th century copies of the original given to us as a gift by one of the store owner.